Died On This Date (December 18, 2011) Warren Hellman / Founder Of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
themusicsover Warren Hellman
January 25, 1934 – December 18, 2011
Warren Hellman was a successful private equity investor whose Hellman & Friedman rose to become a multi-billion dollar firm. He was also a philanthropist and music junkie who founded AND funded San Francisco’s popular Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. A banjo player himself, Hellman launched the Golden Gate Park event in 2001 to an audience of just 13,000. Since then, it has swelled to be one of the world’s greatest music events, drawing as many 500,000 each year over two days. And the best part, it is FREE to attend as Hellman’s gift back to the city. The inaugural festival presented just four acts on the main stage and another five on its second. Performers included Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Hazel Dickens. The 2011 event hosted over 100 performers including Chris Isaak, Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Steve Earle, Robert Plant, and Del McCoury. Warren Hellman was 77 when he died from complications of leukemia on December 18, 2011. Hellman reportedly left a trust fund to finance future festivals.
Do yourself a favor and attend Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival next year!
Known to fans as the “Barefoot Diva,” Cesária Évora, was a gifted singer from the island nation of Cape Verde which sits off the cost of Western Africa. Singing traditional Cape Verde songs in the native language of Portuguese since a young age, it wasn’t until Évora caught the ear of a French producer in 1988 that she was invited to Paris to cut a record. The result, La Diva Aux Pieds Nus, was released later that year to praise from adoring friends back home and new ones in Paris. Over the next several years, she built a sizable following in France and beyond, while critics compared her remarkable voice to that of 
Sean Bonniwell was the founder and front man of the influential ’60s garage band, the Music Machine. Initially called the Ragamuffins when formed in 1965, the group quickly changed their name and went on to help define a fuzzy offshoot of psychedelic rock that would eventually lead to punk rock and what is known today as garage rock. In 1966, the Music Machine released their debut album, (Turn On) The Music Machine which included the Top 20 hit, “Talk Talk,” and its follow-up single, “The People In Me.” The group soon disbanded with Bonniwell going on to secure a deal with Warner Bros. Records as Sean Bonniwell Music Machine. He released what would essentially be the Music Machine’s last album in 1967, and put out one last album as T.S. Bonniwell on Capitol Records before retiring from the music business. After reportedly selling everything and driving around the United States for a number of years, Bonniwell released his autobiography, Talk Talk (later re-released as Beyond The Garage) in 1996. He returned to music in 2000 as a guest vocalist on the debut self-titled album by the Larksmen. Sean Bonniwell was 71 when he passed away on December 17, 2011. Cause of death was not immediately released.
Slim Dunkin was an up-and-coming rapper who was part of the hip-hop collective, 1017 Brick Squad / Brick Squad Monopoly. Formed in Atlanta in 2008, the group also includes Waka Flocka Flame, Wooh Da Kid, OJ Da Juiceman, Frenchie, and Gucci Mane, who has since become the CEO and leader of the group. Dunkin can be heard on several Waka Flocka Flame recordings as well as his own, and had just completed a 20-song mixtape. During the evening hours of December 16, 2011, Slim Dunkin was working in an Atlanta recording studio when he reportedly got into an argument with another individual. The altercation escalated to the point where Dunkin was believed to have been shot in the chest. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The presumed assailant remained unidentified in the immediate aftermath.
Jennifer Miro was a keyboardist and singer who played in the pioneering San Francisco punk band, the Nuns. Formed in 1975, the band, which included Alejandro Escovedo and Jeff Olener, brought on Miro who had grown tired of playing in a local Doobie Brothers cover band. The band quickly found its audience with the Bay Area’s underground punk lovers, and on January 14, 1978, they found themselves opening for the Sex Pistols‘ final concert at the legendary Winterland Ballroom. For a brief time, the Nuns were managed by